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Fan Made Darth Vader
Replica Helmets and Costumes from Star Wars - A New Hope |
| This page is starting to get REALLY
big so I've split it into TWO separate sections. This one contains helmets
produced in some form of quantity, whereas you need to following the link
below for a page showing a couple of one-off original helmet pulls.
Click here
for low volume or one-off ANH Vader Helmets |
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Ghost Host ANH
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The
GH Vader helmet has a clear line to the original screen-used ANH helmet and
always looks impressive when photgraphed..... |
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| As you can see its in immaculate
condition. Its never been put in harms way at all and has lived its life
with me at "Star Wars Helmets" behind glass in a absolute non-smoking
environment. It was sold to me about 7 or so years ago by the original maker
Steve (Ghost Host) a number of years ago and was professionally painted in
the screen-accurate 2-tone paint scheme by one of the most respected US
Vader painters in the field, then shipped to the UK where I've been the sole
owner. |
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| I cannot stress enough that this is
is 100% perfect condition, no scratches marks or blemishes. If you can see
any marks then its just dust. As with all accurate Vader helmets it can be
worn and would just require a leather back strap and some soft face padding. |
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| It has the correct machined
aluminium tusks as well as the equally correct mouth grills. The inside of
the dome has a attachment that holds the faceplate in the correct position,
this again was provided by Ghost Host. I don't think many had this
additional feature. The faceplate is held securely in place with 3 large
strips of industrial Velcro |
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| Below a close-up of the face plate
so you ca see the fantastic sharpness and detail. Any marks are just dust -
this really is in absolutely perfect condition. |
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Most people see the
Ghost Host ANH helmet as one of the best ANH helmet overall and looking at the
images below its difficult to disagree with that. These shots below are
from CKing of his helmet
and you can bet that he's chuffed to bits!!! |
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| Waaaaay back in early 1977, a screen-used suit was provided to a small crew of
mold makers at Don Post's studio with the sole purpose of making 13 duplicate sets of armor for an autograph promotion tour to be timed with the
general release of Star Wars. That screen-used suit was never
returned and ended up in the hands of a private collector. This prop maker
worked with one of those original Don Post crew members for a period
during the early 90's, and was therefore able to source an entire
set of armor and some molds. This, combined with a huge amount of detailed
information and photos of the suit, allowed the prop-maker to put the
following together. |
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| I'm sort of running out of
superlatives to throw at this helmet as it really is so impressive.
Created as part of a very short run from Ghost Host, this particular
helmet has ironically been finished (painted and tusks, grills and lenses
added) by JB (see lower down page). |
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This really is an awesome helmet and so I thought it
worth doing a comparison against a JB helmet, in advance of hopefully
getting the two helmets together sometime in the not too distant future... |
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....above and below a couple of comparison shot with the
JB left, and Ghost Host right |
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| Below, Thomas has put this
comparison "transition" which shows (from top left to bottom
right) a slow fade from the Ghost Host helmet to the Screen-used helmet as
per the scene on the Tantive IV. Now I don't think ANYONE'S ever going to
get this helmet to look 100% exactly like the scene in the film as I
believe the effects of a combination of the lens used, along with
potential anamorphic distortion and probably a couple of filters
have adjusted the "actual" look of the helmet. Certainly
photographs taken at the time appear to differ from film cells so I can
only think its effectively lens distortion. |
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Now this is
absolutely awesome. It's CKing's completed ANH Vader Statue which
incorporates a Ghost Host helmet and armor and can only be described
as bloody amazing! |
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| Below, these next two stunning shots
from Chris King of his ANH Lifesize show off his unique Tantive IV helmet
which is a combination of two helmets, the dome of a GH combined with a JB
ESB Face (20th Century?) and looks absolutely superb. |
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This Black and White shot below looks extremely
convincing. |
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| Above a photo of the side view
showing the clean sweep on the dome away from the face, and on the right
three images of the upper armour, again cast from an original set. Below
(Sept 06), I managed to get hold of one of these wonderful helmets off a
mate of mine, and another good friend painted it up for me and all I can say
is "WOW"
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| Above and below, not much to add
really, maybe another "WOW!" |
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| Below, I decided to do a couple of
moody black and white photos. The finish on this helmet is absolutely
wonderful, the paint job is awesome and the tusks, lenses and grills are
100% |
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JB ANH
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Update December 2008 - BUYER BEWARE - There are still a number of
people who have ordered from this vendor, some over a YEAR ago who have
not received their helmets. You have been warned!!!!
Here are some shots of the
ANH Vader produced by JB, a well-known Canadian prop-maker. Update
December 2005 - Note that there is a "buyer beware" warning on this
supplier on the Replica Prop Forum as apparently there are people who
ordered their helmets in 2003 and STILL have not yet received them! Update
September 2006 - The business partner of JB has written to me to
tell me that all back orders are now complete, however of course I cannot
verify this and to be fair some people DID wait 3 years!
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This helmet looks fantastic with its movie-accurate matt
finish and red lenses. The
face looks like a derivative of a Fiberdyne but the dome is certainly a
recast Ghost Host. |
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| ...and below a comparison shot from
Chris King clearly showing its accuracy against an original frame. |
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I think you'll
agree it looks absolutely stunning. Two new images have also been added
which really show of the satin finish (less glossy) dome.
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as you can see its a very impressive looking
helmet,
shame he had to recast another propmakers (Ghost Host's) dome!
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I took these shots on a dull
overcast day they show off the helmet well. |
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| Its an extremely well-constructed
helmet and the painting is also top-drawer. The helmets only came with
resin tusks so many fitted Aluminium in place. |
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Above in B/W with a bit of film grain to give it a more
screen-like appearance. |
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Go
here for a comparison of this against the 20thC ESB Go
Here for a new 3D rotating view of this helmet |
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Very impressive helmet. here
are photos from JimboBond. Though they will normally be
finished by the prop maker (JB), this particular one has been finished and
painted here in the UK.
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And another shot below from JimboBond - Most
Impressive! (more pics here) (note "JB"
is no relation to JimboBond btw.) |
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| Here are some interesting
shots taken by Kanji. The four immediately below are of his new JB Helmet,
received in November (2003). Many who ordered i 2003 has still to receive
theirs!!!! |
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Below is the same JB Face
with a GH dome.
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Update: - I've
added a new page featuring a couple of JB derivatives here: |
VaderMaker ANH Helmet
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Above is image courtesy of the late VaderMaker of his ANH Vader project. This is typical, you wait for a decent ANH Vader
and then like buses you get two coming along at the same time! The
photo above is especially good with the screen-accurate shoulder armour .This
VM01 helmet is another fine example of the ANH look - dark, moody and mean!
Excellent Helmet! |
| Below, I've just received these
images from Carl who understandably wanted to show off his new VM01 ANH
Helmet - Excellent!!! |
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...and below a couple of nice shot from Tristan of his
(now sold) VM Ver 1 ANH Helmet.
Click Here for some more photos
of the older Vadermaker Darth Vader Helmet |
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Scratch recently sent me these pics of his excellent VaderMaker VM2 helmet.
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| The version 2 of this helmet came
out a year or so after the Version 1, and was based around the 20th Century
facemask with a different dome. |
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And below, Scratch's complete life-size ANH Vader. Most
impressive! |
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Fibredyne ANH |
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| Above and below are images of the
Fibredyne ANH, believed to have been moulded from an original helmet. this
particular one is owned by Mellow13 and has a really nice finish. Note
the tell-tale bumps above the centre of the eye brows. |
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SS Props (Italy) ANH Vader
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| These guys have taken an interesting
approach to producing their Vader helmet. They've actually taken the Don
Post Deluxe ESB Style helmet (and dome) and turned it into an ANH |
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| Looking at the dome, apart from the
obvious addition of the widows peak, they've also considerably lengthened
the dome itself (the Don Post was for some reason reduced by the prop
makers) |
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| In fact you can see from the shot
below just how much longer the dome now is as they've tried to emulate the
ANH Vader look. They've also correctly copied the two-colour tusks, and all
that's left is maybe to slightly "dampen" down the helmet and dome such that
its not quite so reflective. On the set of ANH in 1976 its likely they used
a damping spray often used in photography studios to reduce glare. |
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| Its another great looking helmet and
looks to be very sharp. Latter DP Deluxes suffered from a chin droop but
that doesn't seem to be the case here, suggesting they eiter corrected it or
used a lower numbered helmet as the source. Note that SS Props are based in
Italy and have also done a number of other great SW projects including a
Work-in-Progress Boba Fett costume, as well as more recently a complete
Snowtrooper costume here. |
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Miscellaneous Lifesizes |
| Kraig/Yakcam has sent me these
excellent shots of his Vader and Stormtroopers. |
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| These composite photos Kraig's done
are just too damn cool. The Vader is a mix of helmets/armour from a number
of sources. The Stormtroopers are actually an AA/SDS Helmet and a CRProps,
along with some standard FX Armor. |
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| Below are a couple of shots without
the background (added later) |
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| and finally a colour shot |
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| If they aren't cool enough already -
they also talk as they've got speakers built into their heads. Kraig, if you
got a few grand spare I recon you should animate them! Brilliant! Here's
another couple of really impressive shots of a complete ANH Vader. This one
from SithLord and I'll think you'll agree it looks awesome! |
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| The parts come from a number of
sources. Looking specifically at the helmet its a mixture of 20th Century
faceplate and GH dome - a superb combination. |
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| Also below here's a really great pic
of Als superb ANH Vader, looking very moody in Black & White..... |
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Check
out a Comparison page of Vader's here
..or click
here to go back to the Darth Vader sub-menu |
